New STM could be coming your way

[Ignitionnet]

Ah that was you was it? Evil leechers degrading performance for everyone else in your area, no consideration, etc, etc, etc.

I think this is the wrong ISP for 5 people to share to be honest. If the 5 of you do anything more than fart in the general direction of your modem on 10Mbit you'll get STM'd.

I note they said that there's no congestion issue in your area, it does beg the question of why you're being throttled at all if there's no bandwidth issue, doesn't it?

[Turkey Machine]

Originally Posted by Broadbandings

Ah that was you was it? Evil leechers degrading performance for everyone else in your area, no consideration, etc, etc, etc.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were being a little sarcy, yesno? I think you were following the wrong thread; no other bugger complained AFAIK.

Originally Posted by Broadbandings

I think this is the wrong ISP for 5 people to share to be honest. If the 5 of you do anything more than fart in the general direction of your modem on 10Mbit you'll get STM'd.

That makes me feel loads better: last bloody time I break wind when I'm surfing the net!

Originally Posted by Broadbandings

I note they said that there's no congestion issue in your area, it does beg the question of why you're being throttled at all if there's no bandwidth issue, doesn't it?

Consider that the entire bloody street has students, sits right on a tram line, and to my knowledge, the halls Virgin / ntl / whatever-cable-company-preceded-them-in-my-area so kindly wired up are done individually by flat (some lucky gits have a separate point in the rooms), it's a miracle there aren't more issues.

It basically comes down to the download limits that are artificially set lower than is realistic. If it was doubled, I'd be most happy (same for the upload).

[watzizname]

Originally Posted by Rexz

I remember the days of telewest, when they threatened you with letters or phone calls if you were downloading constantly but there were no STM's as far as I am aware. Maybe the there wern't as many customers with telewest then as there is with Virgin Media now but it shows that virgin have taken on new customers without network upgrades. Finally they decide to deploy docsis3 but then why then roll out a new STM policy for 10 and 20mbit when 20mbit was meant to be going on docsis3 leaving space for docsis2 and up to 10mbit customers? seems to me like their calculations even with docsis 3 can't cope with the current customer base. Or maybe their backbones can't cope? who knows?

I do remember reading there was a 70% increase in Vermin Media broadband subscriptions last year?
Thats a hell of a lot of new victims locked into 12 month contracts, more importantly its a very sizable wad of additional revenue, revenue they should have been using to facilitate such expansionism.

Personally, i think they're an incompetant bunch of liars, better suited to selling knock-off tat at the local carboot

[Ignitionnet]

This new STM is just not environmentally friendly, I have proof!

http://i11.tinypic.com/6akm2kh.jpg

[Fatec]

Originally Posted by Broadbandings

This new STM is just not environmentally friendly, I have proof!

http://i11.tinypic.com/6akm2kh.jpg

I knew if i gave you that link you'd use it on here

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by Fatec

I knew if i gave you that link you'd use it on here

One of the many places young man, one of the many!

[KingDaveRa]

I've just been doing some reading, and come to a conclusion.

Virgin are stuck.

From my understanding of how the network is laid out, the CTMS for me would probably be in Watford... so it's probably covering quite a large area. That's not a problem, but the network is going to be rather loaded. There's a fixed number of frequencies to shove my data into, and as they're shared, they're filling up rapidly. Surely the only way for Virgin to get around it is to split down the network into smaller chunks, and install more CTMSes at the regional headend. That would probably require splitting out some of the main fibres running to Watford, and running even more. Plus all the extra infrastructure needed to connect everything up. Do that across all the headends, and it'll cost a fortune.

So rather than investing - like every other ISP - they're squeezing for all their worth, and basically milking what they have. They probably have no money to invest in networks, and nobody will give them money to invest, so rather they're taking a short-term view of headline-grabbing speeds, and pulling in customers. That explains the minimum 1-year contract, because they know full-well people will probably want to flee when they realise it isn't what they expected; plenty of ADSL ISPs with decent networks have very short contracts because they CAN deliver the product. Just as I left Be, they announced a massive network investment.

Trouble is the VM network is a hodge-podge of networks, and just has not scaled. It was all designed for analogue, and not only that, it was designed to be a small, local network, serving the area it served, with the services it had. I wouldn't mind betting there's a group of core network techs trying to make the best of a bad thing. I'd love to hear their view on it, but I bet they would soon find themselves staring at a P45 if they did.

It's a crying shame, because VM probably have the capability to make the network something really great, but probably no money to do it.

That's my view, anyway

[AbyssUnderground]

KingDaveRa

I'm with you 100%. Virgin seems full of boffins who think speed is the answer, when in matter of fact stability and providing the speed reliably is more important. As you say Virgin just want a big e-penis to show off rather than being the provider people actually like.

At the moment I am happy with Virgins 10Mbps, I can deal with the lousy STM, and I do work my downloads around it, however if it becomes even more restricting then whats the point in even advertising it as 10Mbps? You might as well do what I've put in my services list, 2.5Mbps with bursts of 10Mbps. Thats what its going to become, and I won't let Ofcom or Virgin stand there and let it.

[Welshchris]

Originally Posted by *sloman*

AbyssUnderground I'm with you on the unlimited status!!

How can it be unlimited when our speeds are limited for 5hr/7hr/10hrs this prevents us downloading the maximum data possible if we were not limited.

Anyone know how to put in a complaint to Ofcom, I know how on BBC watchdog!

I have posted this issue on VM's Newsgroup virginmedia.discussion.broadband under the title of 'New STM could be coming your way'

CREDIT to: broadbandking

Most people are agreeing with us, and saying the same thing. Have a look

OFTEL are the people u need to complain to not OFCOM and im with u on this all the way.

---------- Post added at 13:16 ---------- Previous post was at 13:14 ----------

as soon as BE internet becomes available in swansea i will be switching to them. Im less than 1/2 a mile from the exchange and the Line into the flat and exchange supports LLU and ADSL 2 so i should be able to get their upto 24mb.

[AbyssUnderground]

Originally Posted by *sloman*

AbyssUnderground I'm with you on the unlimited status!!

How can it be unlimited when our speeds are limited for 5hr/7hr/10hrs this prevents us downloading the maximum data possible if we were not limited.

Anyone know how to put in a complaint to Ofcom, I know how on BBC watchdog!

I have posted this issue on VM's Newsgroup virginmedia.discussion.broadband under the title of 'New STM could be coming your way'

CREDIT to: broadbandking

Most people are agreeing with us, and saying the same thing. Have a look

Another comment on this, how can Virgin advertise it as 10Mbps Unlimited since when STM kicks in its 2.5Mbps Unlimited? Thats 100% false advertising. It should be 10Mbps for xGB then 2.5Mbps Unlimited. Am I right?

[chamelion]

Originally Posted by AbyssUnderground

KingDaveRa
At the moment I am happy with Virgins 10Mbps, I can deal with the lousy STM, and I do work my downloads around it, however if it becomes even more restricting then whats the point in even advertising it as 10Mbps? You might as well do what I've put in my services list, 2.5Mbps with bursts of 10Mbps. Thats what its going to become, and I won't let Ofcom or Virgin stand there and let it.

i have to say, i read posts non stop about people b**ching about STM and bad speeds. they have a very public STM policy, you just need to know how to work the system rather than sit there and whine.

i have all my torrent apps to schedule speeds and downloads, i'm uneffected 99% of the times. i download bulk overnight, schedule stuff, make full use of the 3pm-4pm window where ther'es no STM. it's easy really, you don't hear me whining about it non stop.

btw, the check the bandwidth graph in your signature, that's me burning up your line

[broadbandking]

Originally Posted by AbyssUnderground

Another comment on this, how can Virgin advertise it as 10Mbps Unlimited since when STM kicks in its 2.5Mbps Unlimited? Thats 100% false advertising. It should be 10Mbps for xGB then 2.5Mbps Unlimited. Am I right?

As much as I agree with you mate this isn't going to change things because Virgin will just say you don't have a cap each which if you go over you are cut off or charge which to them means you can download as such as you want just at a slower speed than what your paying for thus UNLIMITED very clever for Virgin Media and other ISP's as they can throttle your bandwidth but as long as they don't have a monthly cap they can be called UNLIMITED, if only the UK government made the ruling like in USA where Comcast was ordered to allow P2P traffic not be singled out and throttled

---------- Post added at 14:41 ---------- Previous post was at 14:36 ----------

Originally Posted by chamelion

i have to say, i read posts non stop about people b**ching about STM and bad speeds. they have a very public STM policy, you just need to know how to work the system rather than sit there and whine.

i have all my torrent apps to schedule speeds and downloads, i'm uneffected 99% of the times. i download bulk overnight, schedule stuff, make full use of the 3pm-4pm window where ther'es no STM. it's easy really, you don't hear me whining about it non stop.

btw, the check the bandwidth graph in your signature, that's me burning up your line

Fair enough but what about the families that all want to use the connection but then they hit the limit because of legal things i/e i player,YouTube,xbox demos it all adds up, I myself don't really get affected by STM well not at the moment as I am on 50Mb , but I can see why people are annoyed, but if VM stm doesn't bother you then that's fine enjoy your connection just don't critise other people beause they would like the speed they pay for

[AbyssUnderground]

Originally Posted by chamelion

i have to say, i read posts non stop about people b**ching about STM and bad speeds. they have a very public STM policy, you just need to know how to work the system rather than sit there and whine.

i have all my torrent apps to schedule speeds and downloads, i'm uneffected 99% of the times. i download bulk overnight, schedule stuff, make full use of the 3pm-4pm window where ther'es no STM. it's easy really, you don't hear me whining about it non stop.

btw, the check the bandwidth graph in your signature, that's me burning up your line

I know how to manage my bandwidth just fine, but why should I have to? Thats my point. I always do my downloads after 9pm/overnight if I don't feel like being STM'ed. I whine about it because I can and it makes me feel better, you don't have to care!

At least you proved my server can put out 100Mbps anyway... Most people say "its crap" when in fact its their lack of intelligence and using a proper FTP client that makes the speed suffer

[KingDaveRa]

Virgin make a big noise about how you can download x number of MP3s or x number of videos and other fun things, which you most definitely can, but they don't actually want you doing it!

At the moment, it really doesn't affect me, but there's four of us using this connection for an all manner of things, and I think we could run into those sort of caps pretty quickly.

The subtext of the STM is 'here's a super fast pipe... just use it sparingly'.

I suppose for most folk, that's probably fine - hey, it's fine for me, as I'm very bursty in terms of traffic. It just flies in the face of using the internet for distribution of more and more things. I buy a lot of software online, and those downloads can be large, not to mention work things I sometimes do, and can end up downloading big files.

Just a shame VM keep on about their fibre optic intertubes, and these super speeds. Shame you can't hammer the crap out of them!

[watzizname]

Originally Posted by chamelion

i have to say, i read posts non stop about people b**ching about STM and bad speeds. they have a very public STM policy, you just need to know how to work the system rather than sit there and whine.

i have all my torrent apps to schedule speeds and downloads, i'm uneffected 99% of the times. i download bulk overnight, schedule stuff, make full use of the 3pm-4pm window where ther'es no STM. it's easy really, you don't hear me whining about it non stop.

btw, the check the bandwidth graph in your signature, that's me burning up your line

Well i have to say, i've read plenty of posts with people bitching about people bitching.
What you have to remember is VM don't have a VERY public STM policy at all, i know of at least 3 people in the real world that have signed up to what they were told, was an UNLIMITED service, and had never heard of STM, untill they phoned up to find out what was wrong with their connections.

I too download most of my stuff over night, but not everyone is happy to leave their machine on while in bed asleep, or lack the technical know how to queue stuff up ready for when they're at work earning the money needed to pay for the damned service.

And if you're of the mind that folk ought to be venting their anger at VM directly, rather than doing so on a board like this, you've obviously never had to deal with this company, on that level..

Anyway, glad to hear you've got a great service 99% of the time, here's hoping it'll remain that way for you, but should that 1% ever rear it's ugly head and become too much, it should be nice to know you have at least got this place to whine about it